That Smile
by Dancin'Andy
Summary: T rating to be safe. Naruto has his 16th birthday party, and a stupid party game causes feelings to develop between him and Gaara. Made for a DA Contest. Comment please! : Yaoi NaruGaa GaaNaru Fluff One-Shot


That Smile

It wasn't such a bad turnout, Sakura decided, crouching down next to Sai and Ino. She didn't even know that it was physically possible, but she had somehow managed to cram about a dozen people - all armed with presents - into Naruto's tiny apartment. The lights in his apartment and in the hallway leading to his door were all out, and Sakura had finally managed to get everyone to stay quiet and still. Naruto would be there any minute now…

Three knocks on Naruto's door broke the eerie silence, "Surprise!" Sai yelled, as enthusiastically as he could manage (which would sound like it was half-hearted, coming from any other person). Sakura brought her palm to her forehead, "Not yet, Sai," she said, rolling her eyes. She had to give the guy some credit, though; as clueless as he was in the social relations department, he was still trying his best.

Lee beat Sakura to the punch, standing up and walking over to the door, carefully stepping over other party guests as he did, "Oh wow!" he exclaimed, "I didn't think you'd be able to make it tonight!" He threw his arms around someone at the door as he said this. Sakura couldn't tell who was at the door because of how dark it was, but after hearing a low gasp from the person receiving the embrace, she could tell it was a guy, and a guy that obviously wasn't used to that kind of a greeting. He took a step backwards, trying to wriggle out of Lee's grasp to get some space; Lee ended up losing his balance and stumbling forwards on top of him. They both crashed to the floor with a loud thud, Lee's face mere inches from his.

The laughter that rang through the air was from several people; that meant that there was more than one party guest standing in the hallway. But Sakura pieced the rest together when she heard the familiar laugh that no-doubt belonged to Kankuro.

By the time she reached the doorway to see what exactly had happened, Lee was back on his feet. Gaara was sitting on the floor, though, still a little stunned. Kankuro and Matsuri pulled him to his feet, trying not to laugh at the weird expression that had taken over his face, which was now colored almost as red as his hair.

Temari peered through the doorway, "We're not too late, are we?"

"Nah, you're all just in time. Come on in," Shikamaru said from beside Sakura, stepping back to let them all in.

Within a couple of minutes, the room had gotten quiet again, and footsteps could be heard approaching the door. The door swung open pretty fast, almost hitting Kiba and Hinata in the face. The figure entered the room, and the lights turned on.

"Surprise!" Everyone but Sai shouted, "Oh… Uh, surprise!" Sai said, a bit late. This got a laugh from a few people. But what really got a laugh was Naruto, who had screamed in surprise and alarm and stumbled backwards, smacking his head on the doorframe. As he fumed and tried to catch his breath, Sakura and Hinata walked over to him.

"Happy birthday, Naruto-kun," Hinata said, smiling sweetly at him. She fiddled with her fingers, not able to maintain eye contact with him for more than a few seconds at a time. Naruto smiled back at her, although she wasn't able to see it. Naruto smiled his goofy grin as he saw all of his friends who had come to see him on the evening of his birthday.

"You guys…" He murmured, tearing up a little. His eyes suddenly grew wide as he scanned the party guests, "Gaara!" he exclaimed, dashing across the room; Gaara felt air escape his lungs and his feet leave the floor again as he was tackle-hugged for the second time that day. He hesitated – probably waiting for his heart rate to slow back down – then lightly hugged him back.

Naruto pulled away just enough to look Gaara in the eyes, "I… I can't believe you're here, too…" he said, smiling sheepishly.

"_I_ can't believe you were allowed to leave your village so suddenly," Kiba said to Gaara.

"Umm…" Gaara started.

"He actually wasn't," Kankuro finished for his younger brother, laughing a little.

"But won't he get in trouble from the council for doing that?" Tenten asked.

"Probably not," Kankuro responded, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah," Temari said, "It's fine. They all know that he just wanted to see Naruto-kun again," Temari teased, winking. She and Kankuro both laughed at their little brother's expense. Gaara's face turned bright red again, and so did Naruto's.

"So anyways…" Sakura started, saving them any further embarrassment, "Hinata and I made reservations for all of us at Ichiraku Ramen tonight-"

"Really?" Naruto exclaimed, "That's so awesome! Hey," he continued, suddenly changing his tone, "Maybe you and I can sit together and then-"

SMACK! Naruto's arms immediately released Sakura, as he was sent reeling backwards, "Not even on your birthday, Naruto," Sakura spat out, pumping her fists in the air. Gaara had managed to catch and stop Naruto before he went right into the wall. Most of the others laughed, "Does she always do that to people?" Gaara murmured to him, a little confused by Sakura's abusive behavior that had been treated like a normal occurrence.

"Nah, she usually only does stuff like that to _me_," Naruto said, rubbing his slapped cheek that now had a red handprint on it, "I think it's because she secretly likes me," he said, grinning from ear to ear. Sakura pulled her fist back to strike him down again, but Ino and Tenten held her back.

"Hey, we all came here to have a party, remember?" Ino said, trying to calm her down.

"Yeah," Tenten continued, "Let's all just head over to Ichiraku now." Everyone seemed to like this idea, and within a minute or two, everyone was out the door and on their way to the restaurant.

…

When they all walked in to Ichiraku, they were greeted with a long table and chairs set up with balloons tied to one of the end chairs, which was where Naruto was supposed to sit. He refused though, and sat on one side near the middle of the table, so he could have more people around him.

Gaara sat on his left, but only after Temari practically shoved him into the chair before racing to go sit next to Shikamaru. And of course, Matsuri jumped into the chair on the left of Gaara's. Sakura had refused to sit right next to Naruto because of the comment he had made earlier, so Kiba nudged Hinata to go sit to the right of Naruto and then sat next to her. Sai sat across from Naruto's seat, with Ino and Sakura on either side of him.

The people who hadn't eaten yet had some ramen, and of course, even though Naruto had already eaten, he couldn't resist. He grinned brightly; he was happy, and everyone around him seemed pretty happy. He couldn't ask for much more than that. When everyone was just about done eating, the lights went out, and Teuchi and Ayame carried in a huge chocolate cake with sixteen orange candles in a circle near the edge. Naruto beamed. He wasn't used to this kind of attention directed at him, but he knew right away that he really liked it.

"Make a wish," Teuchi said after some obnoxious singing. Naruto already knew what he would wish for. He wished for the same thing every year. And one of these years, he swore that wish was going to come true. He blew out all the candles in one try, and the lights came back on. Naruto cut out a piece of cake for himself, and as others started getting some, he got another one and offered it to Gaara.

"Here," he said, smiling and holding out a paper plate with a piece of cake on it.

"Oh, uh, no thanks," Gaara said, "I don't really like sweets."

"How do you even live?" Naruto joked at him, laughing. Gaara smiled back hesitantly, almost as if he was afraid to let anyone see it. Naruto grinned back, and then turned and handed the piece to Hinata, who still hadn't gotten one yet.

"Oh! T-Thank you, Naruto-kun," she said with a sheepish smile on her face, and then took the cake from him.

"Time for presents, maybe?" Lee suggested, holding up the one he had brought.

"Yeah, good idea," Ino said, grabbing her present along with Sai's.

"Presents?" Naruto repeated with a genuinely surprised look on his face. His response was over a dozen presents getting piled up in front of him. Naruto wasn't used to being spoiled like this, and he decided that he loved it very much.

After opening up a bunch of presents he'd rarely even get to use in his life, Naruto decided to bring the party back to his apartment. Quite a few people had to leave because of missions in the morning, and when Naruto got back to his apartment, the people who were left that were going to sleep over were Sai, Sakura, Tenten, Ino, Kankuro, Hinata, Gaara, Matsuri, Kiba, Temari, Lee, and an attractive chuunin from Konoha named Noriaki.

Kiba laughed when Akamaru right away went to take a nap in the back corner of the room. Sakura and Ino raided Naruto's fridge and made a huge bowl of punch and set out cups for everyone to use.

"Ooh! Punch!" Lee said, getting some, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Sakura and Tenten said in unison. Sakura popped one of her CDs into her portable CD player that she had brought, and music started to play pretty loudly.

"Oh, the neighbors will love you for that," Kankuro said with sarcasm, drinking half of his cup of punch in one drink.

Sai scanned through a book he had brought with him, titled, "Great Party Games," "How about we play… 'Spin the Bottle?'" he said, pointing at a spot on the page.

Surprisingly, everyone was willing to play, thanks to some persuasion from Ino and Temari. Since it was Naruto's birthday, he got to choose who went first. He chose Sakura, and since it was going counter-clockwise, first few people to go were, Sakura, Sai, Lee, Gaara, Naruto, and then Hinata. Sakura didn't hesitate for too long. It landed on Noriaki, and she had to contain a squeal. Naruto and Lee both pouted visibly. She crawled across the circle to reach him and kissed him gently. A couple of the girls cheered loudly. Sakura made her way back to her spot, grinning wildly.

Sai spun the bottle next. He was slightly pleased when it landed on Ino; well, Ino was certainly pleased, at least. She practically ate his face. So far, the girls seemed to be enjoying the game way more than the guys were. Next up was Lee. He spun it so hard that it took a while to stop. When it did, it landed on Tenten, who had been sitting right next to Sakura. He was disappointed that he was so close, yet so far. But when he kissed Tenten, his thoughts changed. They kissed for a pretty long time, even when compared to Ino and Sai's kiss. When Tenten pulled away, it was like Lee was in a trance. It took him a moment to realize where he was and get back to his spot. Tenten kept exchanging glances with him after that.

Then it was Gaara's turn. Everyone could see how tense and nervous he was as he spun the bottle. He didn't know whether to be relieved or downright scared when it landed on Matsuri. He didn't even have to move; she scrambled towards him, almost as if she was afraid of him backing out before she got the chance to kiss him. She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. He was definitely not prepared for his first kiss. He panicked at first, trying to wriggle out of her grip, but then he just sat there patiently, waiting for her to finish; he knew that struggling would get him nowhere fast. But he pushed her away after a few more seconds, thinking that breathing is usually a good thing. Gaara wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, catching his breath as Matsuri returned to her spot in the circle, beaming.

"I don't know why you all like this game," Gaara muttered softly to Naruto as he passed the bottle to him. Naruto smiled, finding it cute to see Gaara so flustered like that. Naruto spun the bottle, praying in his head that it would land on Sakura. Gaara looked over at her; she was actually praying that it _didn't_ land on her. On Naruto's right, Hinata sat staring at him, fidgeting even more than usual.

Almost everyone yelled, cheered, and hollered in unison because of where it landed. Naruto's face turned bright red when he realized whom it had landed on. He turned to look at Gaara, who was just staring down at the bottle that was pointed at him.

"Let's just get this over with," Naruto murmured to Gaara, trying his best to ignore the laughter from his peers. He used his hand to turn Gaara's head so that they were face to face. Naruto hesitated, seeing the nervous look present on Gaara's bright red face. He slowly leaned in and kissed him gently, but before he could pull away quickly like he had planned, this weird feeling washed over him. He felt warm, and almost lightheaded. He tilted his head to the right, pressing himself closer to Gaara, who tensed at how close they suddenly became. Naruto's hand brushed against Gaara's, and he grabbed and held it tightly. He used his other hand to caress Gaara's face. Gaara's free arm wrapped around Naruto's waist, and pulled him even closer.

While continuing to kiss Gaara, Naruto thought about how quiet everyone had become… All he could hear was the music in the background… and then he realized what he had been doing this whole time. He abruptly yanked himself away from Gaara, gasping for air. He had no idea what had come over him just then. Gaara fell backwards in surprise and bumped into Lee, who steadied him.

Other than the music, the room stayed quiet for a few more seconds; no one knew what to say to either of them. Naruto picked up the bottle and passed it to Hinata; his whole body was shaking, "…Your… Turn…" he muttered, his voice cracking as he said it.

Hinata held the bottle in both of her hands, staring at it like it was some kind of weapon of mass destruction. Sakura glanced at Naruto and Gaara, who were both still shaking, "Umm… How about we do something different?" She asked, trying to get everyone relaxed again.

"Yeah… Okay," Hinata said quietly, gently tossing the bottle to the side.

Everyone started talking and moving, trying to change the subject, but Naruto and Gaara just sat next to each other, motionless. Finally, Naruto turned back towards him. Gaara saw him move from his peripheral vision, and turned to face him.

"Umm…" Naruto started, "I'm sorry about that… I don't know what happened…"

"It's okay, Naruto," Gaara said, trying to look pleasant in front of him, even though he was still a little flustered, "It's just a game…"

"Yeah… You're right… It's… Just a game… I guess…" Naruto repeated with a fake smile, somehow not convinced. He stared at Gaara, who just stared back up at him hesitantly. No matter what way he tried to look at it, something weird had just happened to him when he was with Gaara, and he wasn't going to be able to just move on and forget it.

…

"Do you think they're going to be okay?" Tenten whispered to Temari and Sakura at the other side of the room. Temari shrugged her shoulders, shooting a worried look towards Gaara.

"Yeah, they're okay," Sakura whispered back, "They're just a little startled, that's all… They'll probably feel better in a few minutes... See? They're already talking again," she continued, motioning towards where Naruto and Gaara were sitting.

"Oh, good," Temari said, sighing softly, "That's a relief-" She gasped when she looked at them again. Gaara had put his arms around Naruto's waist, and Naruto had grabbed Gaara's shoulders and pulled him into another kiss.

'There it is again,' Naruto thought to himself as he felt that warm and light sensation consume him again. He didn't want it to ever go away, he decided.

But after a little while, Gaara gently pulled away from him, looking up at Naruto with this expression on his face that Naruto had never seen before. There was no hesitation in his eyes like before, and his cheeks were tinted red just slightly; he smiled brightly, like a smile you would love to see on a little kid's face on Christmas morning. Naruto didn't think he'd ever see Gaara smile like that, but he was so glad that he finally got the chance to. This feeling of joy and pleasure washed over him, and nothing else mattered in that moment. Naruto just couldn't help but smile back when Gaara-of-all-people was smiling up at him like that.

"Gaara…" Naruto murmured, pulling him into a light embrace and sliding his hand slowly up and down Gaara's back. Gaara rested his chin on Naruto's shoulder and gently shut his eyes, with that smile still present on his face.

The room went completely silent by then. Someone had even turned the music off. Even more than the shock of them kissing again, everyone was in shock at the smile that was on Gaara's face. But someone had the audacity to ruin the moment for them, "Aw, get a room, you two," Kankuro joked loudly, making both of them flinch and blush fiercely. They split apart, but Naruto grabbed Gaara's hand again.

Sakura had taken a glance at the clock, "Oh wow, it's already past two o' clock in the morning. We'd better get some sleep for tomorrow," she said, pulling out her sleeping bag.

"Yeah. We'll need our strength for then," Lee said, already halfway into his sleeping bag.

Gaara got in his sleeping bag, and stifled a gasp when he turned and saw that Naruto had moved right next to him. He rolled over to completely face him. Naruto rested his hand on top of Gaara's, and leaned over to kiss him. He scooted his body closer to Gaara's, partly unzipped their sleeping bags, and wrapped his arms around him. Gaara smiled that bright smile again, and Naruto fought sleep. He just wanted to see that smile again. That smile that makes all his other cares seem trivial to him… Gaara's smile.

-------------------

I wrote this for a contest on DA, so I figured I'd share it here, as well. :)  
So in the Naruto manga, Naruto all of a sudden went from 15 to 16, without really mentioning his birthday, so I decided to do a quick fanfiction, which didn't turn out to be so "quick." I wanted to enter a Gaara-themed contest, so I involved Gaara.

Comments are VERY MUCH appreciated, thanks. :)


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